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Message
1 Kings 1:1-4
“Is There More To Life Than This?”
Today we are going to start our sermon series on the book of Kings. Now, if you were all first century Christian who had been converted from Judaism to Christianity I could make the assumption that most of you would actually know a fair bit about the book of kings,
You would know the order of the Kings, when they ruled, the length of their reign, whether they were good or bad kings, and the basic story of their lives.
However, because we are 21st century Christians who have all sorts of knowledge about all sorts of things – but who seem to know very little about the Bible – especially the Old Testament we need to go back to some very basics.
Now that might seem like a harsh judgement – but does anyone want to accuse me of being overly critical?
… …
I didn’t think so.
Which quickly highlights one difficulty that arises when preaching from the Old Testament. Most of us really only have a small knowledge about our Biblical history. And even if we do have the knowledge we find it very hard to take all of that history and apply it to our modern lives. But, through this series I want to help you to do that ... because through this series I want us to get excited about the Biblical History that we have and to see that it is still an applicable part of our heritage.
So let’s start off with some important “big picture” truths.
The years covered by 1 & 2 Kings.
The book opens with David as an old man in his last years … approximately 970BC
The book closes with a very specific date “the thirty-seventh year of the exile … (when) Evil-Merodach … released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month” (2 Kgs 25:28). That date is the 12th of March 560BC.
The math is easy then. Kings covers a historical period of 410 years.
Now let me show you something. I’m reading about the History of the Baptist Church in Australia.
Just the Baptist Church.
Only focussed on Australia.
Covering the years 1831, when the first Baptist church started in Woolloomooloo, to 2005 … about 174 years.
There is about 400,000 words in these books. And that doesn’t tell all the stories, by necessity even a work of that size focusing on such a narrow aspect of history needs to be selective.
Now, let’s look at the book of Kings …
I should mention by the way that when I say “book of Kings” I mean both 1 and 2 Kings. You see it is all one story. The only reason we have two books is that the book was basically too big to fit onto one scroll – so they divide it in half and you have two books. Part 1 and Part 2.
So the book of Kings covers 400 years of history including the history of all the kings with some focus on the religion of the whole nation and other significant events. And this is done in 50,000 words.
These books on the history of Baptist in Australia … 400,000 words – and still very selective.
The book of Kings … 50,000 words – it is very very very selective.
There is so much that could have been included in the books which isn’t. A quick example.
1 Kings 15:9-24
King Asa
He was a good King.
He rules for 41 years.
He dies.
His whole rule is spoken about in 500 words.
Your assignments in grade 7 are longer than that.
What we have recorded in kings is a very selective part of the whole history. That fact raises a really important question
Who does the author of Kings have in mind when he collected these historical stories and put them into a book?
You see every book is written with a particular audience in mind.
Children’s story books are written with a particular audience in mind.
Windows 8 for dummies is written with a specific audience in mind.
50 shades of grey was written with a specific audience in mind – which is why none of us have read it … have we?
And the book of kings was written with a specific audience in mind.
So who is that audience?
We had a hint earlier when we were talking about the specific closing date in the book.
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Meradach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month.
2 Kings 25:27
You might remember earlier that we said this date was the 12th of March 560BC. That is significant to know because it means Kings was written to the people of Israel who are in exile in Babylon.
There was a group of people who went into exile with Jehoiachin in 597BC
There was another group of people who went into exile, just after Jerusalem was destroyed, in 587BC
So they have been in exile for 27-35years, depending when you came. These people look back and they remember.
Jerusalem is a veritable wasteland because, 27 years ago, the conquering Babylonians set fire to the temple, the palace and every important building as well as breaking down the walls around Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25:9-10).
Apart from some poor Judahites who were left behind, approximately 10,000 people, from all stations of life, were building houses, settling down, marrying and seeking the peace and prosperity of the city (Jer 29.4-7).
Some days they sat by the river Euphrates and weep in response to the torment of their captivity (Ps 137:1-3).
Of greater torment was the knowledge that they had brought this punishment upon themselves for they had not listened to the Lord and had aroused His anger (Jer 25:7; cf. Isa 3:8-9).
That is the situation of the original audience of the book of Kings.
Now I know I have spent a lot of time on this, but we need to understand these things.
You see God is the author of the Bible. And in this particular case God has inspired the author of Kings to collect these particular historical events
… only 50,000 words worth.
… very selective parts of history.
God has done this because He is focussing his teaching on these people in Exile who, for the most part, have basically lost hope and are wondering if God has the ability to help them.
And as we understand the message that is being given to the exiles, we then understand what message is being given to us as well.
That was a lot of work wasn’t it – and we really haven’t started reading Kings yet.
But remember some of the outcomes we are trying to achieve through this series.
To get excited about the Biblical History and see that it is an applicable part of our spiritual heritage.
To have the knowledge to take all of that history and apply it to our modern lives.
I want to give you the ability to learn for yourself.
Since I have digressed so much I might as well keep going … by showing you how it works in other books.
Let’s take the book of Judges as an example.
The book is basically a continuing cycle of sin, punishment, salvation.
The people sin
God sends a nation to defeat them and rule over them.
After some time the people cry out to God in repentance.
God then sends a Judge or a deliverer
And there is peace, maybe for 20 or 30 or 40 years.
Then the cycle repeats.
Who is the book of judges written to? This is the last verse of Judges.
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 21:25)
The whole book of judges is designed to show what happens when you live life as you see fit, as well as showing the blessings which come when you put God first. Everyone is just enjoying life … and no-one is thinking about the consequences. That sounds like a familiar story doesn’t it.
Or take the book of Chronicles. If you have ever read 1 & 2 Chronicles you will know that many of the stories in Chronicles comes from Kings. In fact what Chronicles does is take the stories 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings and then it focuses very much on King David and the Kings over Judah who are David’s descendents.
Who is that book written to? These are the last verses in 2 Chronicles.
22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:
23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”
2 Chronicles 36:22-23
So Chronicles is written to those who are at the end of the exile and they are coming home. The exile was 70 years so basically all the people who came into exile are dead and now there is a new generation. They are going to go back to the land of Israel which has been in ruins for 70 years. They will need to rebuild and re-establish a nation. They don’t remember any of this, all they have is stories.
Their identity has been made in Babylon.
They need to now make a new identity in Israel.
The book of Chronicles is helping them to understand their identity – their identity as believers.
And that is a familiar story as well for us isn’t it.
Ok – so we better get back on track – but I hope you can see what is going on and why it really is important to have some of this groundwork. Because if we don’t we just are never going to be able to understand what the Old Testament is doing and just remains that part of our bible which doesn’t have dirty finger marks and coffee stains.
As we are making our way through Kings we will keep on thinking about those people in exile, lost, feeling hopeless, wondering if God is able to turn the situation around. And since we want to do a little bit more than have a history lesson let’s spend some time making our way through the book.
1 Kings 1
(Read verse 1-4)
That is kind of an unexpected beginning isn’t it.
Deuteronomy begins with Moses and the people just about to enter the promised land – life, adventure and excitement.
Joshua begins with Joshua taking commanding and bringing the nation into the promised land.
Judges begins with the people finally settling in the promised land, ready to get on with their new lives.
Samuel begins with the birth of the great prophet Samuel, who will have a huge impact on the spiritual direction of the nation.
The first three words of Kings in Hebrew are … King David old
Then to emphasis the point of just how old he is we get this story about Abishag.
The idea is to find a woman who is able to lie next to the king and keep him warm.
Now let’s remember a few things.
Firstly during his life King David married at least eight women. We don’t know how many are still alive, but at least Bathsheba is.
Also David had a number of concubines – a concubine is basically a … sleeping partner … when you just can’t decide which of your seven wives you want to be with tonight.
So there has got to be among this group at least a few women around who can keep David warm.
But they aren’t even considered. Instead the common consensus is to find another woman
… a virgin
… young
… beautiful
And they get really serious about the search because she ends up coming from Shunam which is found in the territory of the in the tribe of Issachar. You can see from the map how far that is from Jerusalem.
So to help David get warm he has one of the most beautiful young woman in the land hop into bet with him and “snuggle up”
This was the man who was quite well known for his … virility.
But the king had no intimate relations with her.
The king is old and nothing works anymore.
Now, of all the history you could choose, why would you start the book of Kings with that story?
What is happening here is that a question is being asked.
Is there going to be life after the death of the Great King David.
Can the nation continue to exist when the situation seems to be one of death and impotence?
Because that is what the exiles are feeling aren’t they – exile is death.
They, as a nation, are impotent.
Nothing is stirring the imagination, or passion or desire.
The opening verses straight away create an affinity with between history and the situation of the exiles. The rest of the book is going to keep coming back to that question – and we are going to get some really great answers … answers that come through the pages of history.
Because isn’t it true that we have had days, or maybe we are going through those days now, when we really wonder, “Is this it?”, “Is this all there really is to life?”
Surely I can have a greater impact.
Surely my life has greater purpose.
Surely I can be more passionate, and more excited.
Is this it?
And in the times of those questions God steps in and says, “Yes … yes there is”.
But are you willing to listen to Me?
That is what we are going to look forward to as we make our way through this book.
We are not going to look at very section – that would take a couple of years.
But we are going to continually be faced with the question.
How different should life be when we know the Son of David?
Because that’s where the book of Kings keeps taking us – to Jesus the Son of David who comes to us when we are saying, “Is that it?”
And He says No.
There is so much more … if only you really allow me to rule.
Are you willing to let Jesus rule?
Why don’t you make that your prayer as the history of Kings becomes entwined into our spiritual history.
Prayer
